Ah Friends, what’s next eh? When will our earthly calamities cease? In the last couple weeks we’ve had Greece in turmoil over its debt problem, which is affecting the whole world because of the tightly connected global economy. Then there was the unfortunate plane crash with all of Poland’s top political and military leaders perishing in a suspicious coincidence on their way to commemorate a mass killing of Poles by the Russians in World War 1. The Catholic Church is in a brouhaha over widespread sexual abuse by its priests, and there’s political upheaval in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, already a source of contention between Russia and the U.S, not to mention the 6.9 magnitude in China and the mine disasters in the U.S and China, while Turkey and Armenia are waging a war of words, whether Armenians killed some 90 years ago was genocide or casualties of war. Not to be outdone, South Africa weighs in with racist propaganda over the killing of a white supremacist leader by two black men, as well as a hot debate on an upcoming report of a commission that apparently found Israel guilty of wartime atrocities against Gaza in their last engagement. The contention there is that the Jewish chair of the commission was being traitorous to his people and it’s felt that he should be prevented from attending the Bar Mitzvah of his grandson. Ah Lord eh! But topping it all is the second eruption in the past month of an Icelandic volcano that has lain dormant for the past 200 hundred years, and is now spreading dangerous ash all over Northern Europe, disrupting everything. And that’s only what I know about, but when added to our numerous ongoing problems, it’s hard not to consider our world being in a rather precarious, negative, tumultuous state. The sad part is that most of the man made problems could be amicably worked out if the parties involved would only use a little common sense and realize that continuing the negative situations is only getting us deeper in animosity, hatred and destruction. Man’s foolish sense of pride just has a way of overriding his common sense. My people, when will we ever learn that wars don’t solve or decide anything? It’s at the peace talks afterwards where all the important decisions are made. Yet we refuse to follow the way of peace, of Christ, and continue to wage war at the drop of a hat. No wonder Isaiah said; ‘the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.’ (Isa.1:28) And I guess the Lord planned Armageddon because He knew our lusts for war and hatred of peace, the type of kingdom His Son, Jesus, will initiate at His second coming. ‘And the strong shall be as tow (tinder), and the maker of it (the work of it) as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.’ Yes my people, in those days the powerful and sinful shall be dry like easily inflamed material and their evil actions and devices like a spark that will ignite them and burn them all in an unquenchable fire. Ezekiel said the same thing: ‘The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie (with the) uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’ (Ezek.32:21) And Isaiah ends his prophecy with this graphic picture. ‘And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.’ (Isa.66:23-24) Yes Friends, that’s what the righteous have to look forward to. And I definitely want to be a looker, not a ‘lookee’ (smile) And if you don’t believe those two old time prophets, then perhaps you’ll believe John the Baptist. ‘I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. Whose (winnowing) fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his (threshing) floor, and gather his wheat into the garner (barn), but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ (Mat.3:11-12) And if John the Baptist doesn’t stir your conscience either, hear the real McCoy, Jesus. ‘And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched.’ (Mark 9:43) Oh mih people, I implore us to take all those words of death and damnation seriously, because according to the scholars, the word Jesus used to describe it comes from the Greek ‘gehenna’ which ‘is associated with fire, punishment, the undying worm, the gnashing of teeth and eternity without God. All of the language stressing the repulsiveness of hell is a description of gehenna. The Scriptures incompletely describe gehanna, because such a place is psychologically impossible to comprehend. Thus the existence of this place, where the unsaved will consciously suffer for eternity without God, ought to stir every Christian to win souls.’ And all God’s people said, ‘Amen!’ Oh Friends, if you also read Mat.5:22 and Luke 16:19-31, you’d see that Jesus spoke often and seriously of eternal punishment. In fact the scholars claim that every use of gehenna in the Bible, except one, came from Jesus. So my brethren, it’s not something we should take lightly. And though it’s up to every individual to make that choice, it’s also the responsibility of believers to convince others of the rightness and seriousness of our purpose. So let’s get out there and do our jobs nuh. Much LOVE! …as a betting man…I’d pick Jesus…EVERY TIME…
SCRIP-BITS 